Blockbuster trades bring short-term, long-term benefits: Blue GM

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This article was published 12/09/2016 (3306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The day after Kyle Walters shook up the Canadian Football League with two blockbuster trades Sunday, the general manager of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers spent 20 minutes taking questions from local media.

Walters, now in his third season as the Bombers GM, defended his decision to trade Drew Willy, the once-franchise quarterback, to the Toronto Argonauts and talked about the benefit of the pieces he got in return Sunday night, which included former Bomber quarterback Kevin Glenn from the Montreal Alouettes.

“There’s a lot of reasons and it came down to what we thought was the best decision for the football team,” said Walters at the news conference at Investors Group Field. “We think, for the short term and long term, we made good decisions for the football club.”

As part of the Willy trade, the Bombers got a roster player in defensive back T.J. Heath as well as two draft picks — a first-round pick in 2017 and the Argos’ third-round selection in 2018.

For Glenn, who started five seasons for Winnipeg (2004-08), the Bombers gave up a 2017 fourth-round pick.

“Anytime you can acquire draft picks, that’s the currency in our league and continue to add Canadian depth (is crucial),” said Walters. “T.J. Heath is a good football player… and adding Kevin Glenn, a veteran quarterback, with Drew moving on I think that was imperative that we get a veteran that can come in here and win some football games if needed.”

Glenn, though coming in as the No. 2 behind starter Matt Nichols, proved a big part of Sunday’s deals. Without the veteran pivot in play, neither trade would have been made, Walters said.

“The way it went down yesterday, I think wanting to get a veteran quarterback as part of this was paramount,” he said.

Talks to trade Willy heated up over the past week as Toronto looked to fill the void left by starter Ricky Ray, who is expected to miss between four and six weeks with a lung injury, Walters said. The Bombers also shed some salary, with Willy in the first of two years of a contract that pays him more that $400,000 with incentives.

But it was ultimately Willy’s inability to find his groove with the Bombers offence, posting a 1-4 record to start the year, and the fact Nichols has only made it more likely Willy was going to be moved. Nichols is 6-0 since taking over for Willy.

“When we signed Drew, we believed in Drew,” said Walters. “Things change. Unfortunately for all of us, Drew didn’t have the success that he did that we all expected – including him – early on in the year and at 1-4 the decision was made to give Matt an opportunity, to see if he could win some football games – and Matt did.”

As it stands, the Bombers are currently without a quarterback with a contract for next season. It’s likely the Bombers are working on an extension for Nichols, but Walters said he didn’t think there was a rush to get something done before the Feb. 9 free-agency deadline.

“Ideally, we win the Grey Cup and Matt Nichols leads us to the Grey Cup and he gets a new contract,” he said.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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